December 8, 2020, 1:58 pm
A bombshell report by The New York Times has revealed the humble identity behind multiple Twitter accounts impersonating public figures and relatives to Donald Trump, ending with one claiming to be the president’s sister Elizabeth Trump Grau. That account was exposed as a fraud after Donald retweeted an article thanking her and sending her “LOVE” after it shared an article claiming that she supported his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
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As it turns out, the account was run by 21-year-old DoorDash driver Josh Hall, who had already gained extensive experience in the Twitter impersonation game.
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Hall, who is a genuine Trump supporter, was interviewed by the Times and spilled the whole story on how he started making these fake accounts for fun, and later for a bit of profit.
“There was no nefarious intention behind it,” Hall said. “I was just trying to rally up MAGA supporters and have fun.”
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Hall described being “energized” by Trump as a teenager, thinking of him as a “clown” but also agreeing with much of what he said in his early campaign days. He “dreamed of becoming a conservative talk-radio host” and asked for funds from his modest online following to pay for a lawyer after he was accused of harassment by someone he used to date.
He soon figured out he could get a lot more attention by impersonating public figures, starting with former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. The former governor was caught trying to sell a U.S. senate seat but had his sentence commuted by Donald Trump in spite of being a Democrat. Hall used this account to spread common far-right conspiracy theories, including those under the purview of Qanon, in all capital letters.
However, he soon found that impersonating members of the Trump family gained him the most followers in short periods of time. The Elizabeth Trump Grau account amassed over 24,000 followers in the space of 24 hours.
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Hall also used the fake accounts to ask for money, eventually creating a fake “Gay Voices for Trump” account to promote a GoFundMe campaign, boosted further by Hall’s Twitter impersonation of Robert Trump, the president’s uncle. Hall raked in $7,384, claiming to the Times that he didn’t withdraw the money because he “didn’t end up ever really doing anything with the Gay Voices for Trump,” but GoFundMe said that the funds had been withdrawn by the campaign’s creator.
DoorDash delivering doesn’t pay much, after all.
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Impersonation is a huge issue on social media platforms like Twitter, where there are still dozens of accounts claiming to represent Barron Trump. In spite of their efforts to ban accounts like these, they’re very easy to make and the bans easy to evade, as demonstrated by Hall.
Reactions to the article have largely been along the lines of “play stupid games, win stupid prizes.”
“The conman outconning the conman,” wrote commenter Jerone Anderson, “it’s not surprising Trump would think a conman is his family. He may as well be.
*First Published: December 8, 2020, 1:58 pm
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